The Evanston Community Foundation was established in 1986 under the auspices of the Evanston United Way. As envisioned by its founders, the Foundation would be a new source of funding for the Evanston community, providing grants for emerging organizations, seed money for new projects, and support for creative ideas and initiatives for the good of the community. 

Initial funding of $150,000 from the Baxter International Foundation to Evanston United Way was used to make the first five years of grants, and a $100,000 matching grant from the sale of the Evanston United Way’s building was used to seed the unrestricted endowment fund. The unrestricted endowment fund, earmarked to grow in perpetuity while generating annual spending allowances, is the Foundation's core fund, supporting operations, grantmaking and programs.

In 1998, Northwestern University's student-run philanthropy, Dance Marathon, began making ECF the secondary beneficiary of its annual fundraiser to increase Foundation grants budgets. The new Foundation grew modestly through 2000, when it received its largest individual gift of nearly $450,000. In 2001, the Foundation engaged its own executive director to lead the separation of the Foundation from Evanston United Way, increase public awareness of the Foundation, provide a fuller range of services to donors and constituent organizations, and accelerate the development of endowment to meet a higher percentage of demonstrated community needs and aspirations.

Today the Foundation manages $10 million in charitable assets through 50 different funds. It strengthens the community's nonprofit organziations and serves its donors through innovative granmaking, partnerships with other philanthropic organizations, and collaborative community leadership. It is a member of the Council on Foundations and the Donors Forum of Chicago and participates with seventeen Illinois community foundations in the Grand Victoria Founation's Communityworks Initiative. The Foundaton's local Communityworks initiative, "Every Child Ready for Kindergarten, Every Youth Ready for Work" is currently its major program; more than $120,000 in grants were awarded through this initiative in 2007. The Foundation is certified as meeting the Council on Foundation's National Standards for Community Foundations. 

The growth of total charitable payouts—in grants, donor-advised giving, and agency fund payouts from $62,000 in 1998 to more than $800,000 in 2008, illustrates the Foundation's progress to date in fulfilling the founders’ vision of new community-based resource for the people of Evanston and surrounding communities.